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Jacob Riis Directory

In the 1880's an American reporter, Jacob Riis recognized the importance of the role photography could play in providing evidence for his stories on the immigrant slums. Riis wanted to show how bad the living conditions were for the immigrants and found that words alone made little impression on his readers and as drawings were not regarded as evidence in the 1880's, his camera became his tool of action.

Most people living in New York did not share Riis's concern for immigrants. The common view held by the middle/upper class was that the poor were "responsible for having brought upon themselves poverty by their indolence and immorality". Jacob Riis felt that if only the people could see the true conditions, then maybe they would help him campaign for better conditions. "The sights I saw there gripped my heart until I felt I must tell of them or burst".

In 1890 Riis published his first book 'How the Other Half Lives'. The book had seventeen halftone reproductions of photographs and nineteen wood engravings. In the introduction Riis wrote: "The story is dark enough, drawn from the plain public records, to send a chill to any heart. If it shall appear that the sufferings and the sins of the 'other half' and the evil they breed, are but a just punishment upon the community that gave it no other choice, it will be because that is the truth." 'How the Other Half Lives' was so successful that it went through eleven printings in five years.

Biographies

Spartacus Biography of Jacob Riis

Wikipedia: Jacob Riis

Harvard University Library

University of Virginia

The Richmond Hill Historical Society

Jacob Riis by Robert Leggat

Focusdep

The University of Illinois: Jacob Riis's Reform Photography

 

How the Other Half Lives

The Battle with the Slum

Rediscovering Jacob Riis

Images

Masters of Photography

Southern Methodist University

University of Virginia

The MoMA

Wikimedia Commons

Picture History

Primary Sources: Photographs by Jacob Riis

Masters of Photography - Jacob Riis

 

Articles about Jacob Riis

What Do The World and People Deserve? by Len Bernstein

Rediscovering Jacob Riis: College Street Journal

Jacob Riis, Writer With a Camera By Jonathan Sussman: Newark Metro

Dr. Nagle, Mrs. Dr. Nagle and Jacob Riis: Life and Times of Actress EJ Phillips

People in America - November 3, 2002: Jacob Riis

 

Articles by Jacob Riis

Merry Christmas in the Tenements an article by Jacob Riis: Paul Giamarba

"The Jews of New York" Jacob Riis, 1896

 

Student Resoures

'How The Other Half Lives' by Jacob Riis

How The Other Half Lives: The Authentic History Center

Jacob Riis Quotes: Think Exist

 

The Making of an American

Jacob Riis

Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen

 

Forum Debates

Jacob Riis: Brain Mata

The Novel that Changed Your Life

Who is the most important writer of the early 20th century?

The Literature Network Forum

Jacob Riis

 
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